4.5/5 Stars. This book portrayed fandom is such a positive light and I loved every second of this. I loved how Ashley Poston explained Starfield without fanfic excerpts. Elle quickly became one of my favorite characters because I could relate to her on the friendship & fandom level. As this is a Cinderella retelling, I loved how Poston stayed true to the story but also added her own twists! both characters were really strong and I was sad to leave them & their story.

This novel was also SO diverse. A major character, Darien is a POC and I loved how Poston made his character a heartthrob. His relationship with his father was so complex and heartbreaking.

Highly recommend this! It just didn’t make me go “wow” so I settled for a 4.5 Star.

Representation: side character, Sage is a lesbian + a f/f romance! Love interest is a POC.

This is one of the best contemporaries I have read in a while! I was so invested in the story and the characters. Cate was a character I grew to hate, I enjoyed her character until she got very bossy. Overall, I loved getting to know the story behind Molly.

TW/CW: Sexual assault, near death experience, cheating

I've found a new favorite book of all time.

Emory and Hannah were best friends forever, until eight months ago. One night, one fight changed everything. They haven't spoken since.

Emory is an actress who spends most of her time in her high school auditorium rehearsing for their spring musical and preparing for her audition at UCLA. Meanwhile, she is dealing with the aftermath of the tragic incident that changed her boyfriend, Luke's life forever.

Hannah is the preacher's daughter, her faith has consumed her life forever and she's now realizing that she always listened and agreed to what her father said because his opinion was always right in her mind. She learns to restore her faith and explore what Christianity means to her. But, when she sees Luke passed out in his car in front of her house, she starts to rethink her faith and if everything does happen for a reason and God's plan.

This was a roller coaster to say the least. I was full on sobbing in the beginning and my emotions were up and down. I was so invested in this story and devoured it!! This was a great story about near death experiences, after-life, faith, and makes you think if everything does happen for a reason. I have nothing bad to say about this book. It was excellent. I did have a problem with the cheating going on, but it isn't brushed off and the author did a great job making sure both characters addressed what they were doing and learned from it.

3.75 - I'm having a hard time rating this because it's so in the middle of a 3 and 4 star. In the conversation between Faith and Rainbow at the end of the book, Rainbow describes this book as "Disneyland if it was a Pumpkin Patch" which is the best way to describe this book! But, I think you really need to be in the mood for a light-hearted, romance or character who is a hopeless romantic. Some of this made me anxious because the characters were just not doing their jobs because of their quest to find The Fudge Girl and then the ending was SO PREDICTABLE and I just felt meh afterward.

As for the authors, I love Rainbow and Faith and I could definitely recognize who's character was who, the humor was great. I loved the Fudge puns but some of them just felt over-used by the last few. As for Faith's illustrations, *chefs kiss*

This is a good read if you want a light, fluffy contemporary romance for the Autumn season and it will make you crave pumpkin patch foods that you never thought of. So, my final thought on this book is - where can I get a Pumpkin Bomb?

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review via Net Galley. This does not affect my opinions. All opinions are my own!

I appreciated the inclusion of diverse, international, historical and current LGBTQ+ icons. But, it felt like this book just stopped at LGBT and didn't dive into other current and historical queer icons.on the queer spectrum. I would've liked to see pansexual, asexual and non-binary queer heroes like Brendon Urie and Sam Smith included in this non-fiction collection. Also, just one trans man included? As a trans guy that put me off. I was waiting until the last 10 pages to get a trans man included for my own representation. I appreciated the illustrations of each person mentioned, the illustrations were stunning and I liked how they just added a short biography of important information. I'm grateful to have taken a LGBTQ+ History class in college, so I was already aware of some of the figures in this book. But, glad to have learned about new ones as well.

I love being in the BSC world. I felt like they wouldn't have gotten into a weeks long fight though? They would've stayed true to the BSC motto and not ditch meetings. But I liked the illustrations!

Rating: 4.5/5

For a debut novel, this was spectacular! I loved how it tackled hard topics such as alcoholic parents, and being an adopted child.

We also have a bisexual side character, Shug's oldest sister comes out as bisexual very nonchalant and it was the best scene, ever.

There is also a side character who is Korean-American, like Jenny Jan herself! I really liked how Jenny slightly mentioned racism.

Shug was a little unbearable at times. She was a bratty kid with an attitude toward everyone she met. She was sort of stuck-up. She didn't really have any positive moments in this book. She was mean to everyone! She is a 12 year old girl starting puberty as she enters her first year of junior high school.

I did adore this coming of age MG novel. Jack was my favorite character and I felt like I really connected to him. This was just a great story to give to any child who is starting Junior High/Middle School because it does dive into the feelings of your friends from elementary school having girlfriends and boyfriends and really growing up and finding themselves and their friend groups.

This was an excellent book about a trans girl coming to terms with being transgender at a young age. I cried so much reading this, it really hit home.

3.5/5
I was sent this novel for review from Macmillan-First Second in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

All Summer Long is a short and sweet read following, thirteen-year old Bina who is devestated when she finds out her best friend, Austin is going to soccer camp for a month during the summer. At times, I couldn't stand Bina. She was very whiny and childish, but given her age that was understandable. However, I just wasn't a fan of her character. She felt like an annoying younger sibling. For instance, she got angry when Austin didn't text her back right away, so she assumed they weren't friends anymore... Bina just seemed to act younger than she was. Bina is also a diverse character yet there was no mention of her ethnicity, she is definitely Chinese, Asian or Korean but we're not told.

I liked seeing her bond with Charlie, Austin's older sister yet she was also a character I disliked. She stopped everything just for her crush on Jae and abandoned Bina at their babysitting job. I felt like she could've been a good person for Bina to have in her life to look up to as a role model yet that didn't happen.

I did like the message the story told, 1. BOYS AND GIRLS CAN BE FRIENDS. 2. Coming of age - since they are approaching eighth grade - Austin makes a good point when he returns from camp, simply telling Bina how things are changing. Yet, Bina seems to hate the idea of growing up.

I also wish we saw more of character development with Bina and more background on her hobby, music - playing the guitar and songwriting. There is only a mention of her talking to Charlie about her favorite band and the music she likes. There is also a turntable, yet no mention of the year the story is set in.

Major points to this middle-grade graphic novel for adding a same sex couple!! I was so excited when I saw this. Bina's brother and his husband get approved to adopt a child and the baby is delivered at the hospital.

Overall, this was a cute graphic novel yet it needs some work like more details and background added to the character arcs. The novel felt very rushed in my opinion.

2014: This may be my favorite Rainbow Rowell book next to Fangirl. This was fantastic.

re-read: 12/20/2019